Ben Elton

Few comedy careers span as many forms as Ben Elton's: novelist, playwright, television writer, screenwriter, lyricist, director and stand-up, working across the UK and Australia . Three BAFTA Awards for Best Comedy Series came for The Young Ones, Blackadder the Third and Blackadder Goes Forth, alongside the Royal Television Society Writer's Award for The Man From Auntie and a British Comedy Award for The Thin Blue Line. Ben co-hosted the Nelson Mandela Celebration at Wembley Stadium in 1990, then hosted the Brit Awards twice and the Royal Variety Performance in 2000, writing the material for each show. Musical theatre credits include We Will Rock You with the music of Queen and two collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, winning Olivier Awards for Popcorn and We Will Rock You. His novels include books reaching number one in the UK and Australia, and Ben wrote and directed the films Maybe Baby and Three Summers, the latter taking the Prix Du Jury at the Cannes Écrans Cinéma Festival. The sitcom Upstart Crow, built around the life of Shakespeare, ran three seasons on the BBC.